Every time I travel out of the country, I made a deal with myself that goes like this:

Eat as much of whatever you want as much as you want.

The way I see it, diets in foreign lands are stupid. You’re robbing yourself of precious once in a life time opportunities. Things like eating fish and chips from a genuine British Pub or fresh Italian food from a restaurant that’s been serving it on the bank of the Grand Canal in Venice for maybe hundreds of years. I don’t know I’m not a travel agent.

Most importantly, however, are the crepes.

Every time I travel, I eat until I’m going to explode. Now here comes the amazing part. I don’t ever gain any weight. In fact I lose weight every time! How can that be?

The way the Shangri-la Diet explains this, is that your body is unfamiliar with the taste and caloric content of these new foods. You know they’re delicious and full of fat and calories because little children are walking away with them by the handful and whip cream looks the same in every language. Your brain, however, has not has the experience with this new food that’s necessary to categorize it as a food found in lean times or a food found in plentiful times.

I’ve already discussed how food found in lean times makes you lose weight by lowering your Set Point, and how the opposite is also true. In the case of eating foreign foods, your brain takes the safe route and classifies it as a food found during scarce times.

Scarce Time foods equals a lower Set Point. A lower Set Point equals less fat storage and less desire to eat. Less fat storage equals weight loss.

Keep that in mind next time you’re in Italy wondering if you should have a second dessert.

I must confess, at first I was more than a little sceptical of this diet. However, thirty or so days of olive oil and weight loss have shown me that this may not be a diet of malarky.

I say “may not be” because my one experiment is nowhere near enough to make conclusions - rather, it’s just part of the ongoing exploration of this diet.

The good things about my Shangri-la month:

- I did feel in control of my eating habits and cravings

- The olive oil has worked wonders for my skin and hair

- I lost about four pounds. I now stand at approximately 112 lbs, which is just fine by me

The bad things about my Shangri-la month:

- It’s a real pain in the ass to keep to the diet on weekends or anytime when your day isn’t rigidly structured. It almost gets to the point where you want to say screw it. But then of course, hunger returns.

- Having to substitute calories from your daily intake. Some days you miss those calories more than others.

That’s all I can think about right now - but the initial feedback is: Shangri-la seems to work…

Again, no exercise apart from Pilates (we all know that doesn’t count).

As far as hunger goes, I manage to keep it under control until about midnight, which is when I get cravings. I think this wouldn’t happen if I had another tablespoon of olive oil in the evening - so for those who are considering two tablespoons over one, I would recommend it - especially if you keep late hours.

I’m very happy with how this diet is going, and will probably continue it after the month deadline. I’ll just have to see in a week!

Olive oil = 150 calories out of 1200

I’m sticking to one tablespoon of olive oil a day, usually in the early afternoon between lunch and dinner. Usually when I talk to people about the Shangri-la diet and I get to the bit about the olive oil, they always get this absolutely revolted look on their faces - as if I’ve just talked about drinking, I don’t know, whatever very gross thing you can think of.

Honestly, it’s not bad at all. The olive oil barely tastes of anything and the water I quickly follow it with totally blocks out any taste. Try it for yourselves!

Olive oil = 150 calories out of 1200

Now, this was pretty much what I expected, and I’m happy with it! I didn’t keep the Shangri-la diet on Saturday but I wasn’t hungry at all, which makes me think that if you keep the majority of the days strictly, one day off won’t ruin the routine.

Anyway, the diet is still going fantastic. I have to keep reminding myself that the point of this whole experiment is not to see if I lose weight, but to see if I can control my hunger cravings - and, I can. I don’t get painful cravings, I feel far more in control of myself and when I do choose to eat junk food, it’s because I choose to - not because I get uncontrollable urges to.

The weight loss is just a bonus : ).

Olive oil = 150 calories out of 1200

McDonald’s food causes an orgy of taste and flavour in my mouth just thinking about it. Eating it makes me happy. I’ve eaten food I cooked myself — good food too, not burned crap. It didn’t even make me slightly happy.

Why is that?

(more…)

Firstly, the immediate and wrenching hunger that would strike within a period of thirty minutes and never let go is now gone. Or maybe it’s just stretched out for much longer. I haven’t tested that. I’m still hungry during the day, but it’s easier to ignore; kind of like an episode of Family Guy I’ve seen a million times.

Food is not as enjoyable as it used to be. I need to qualify that because it sounds depressing, but it really isn’t. My diet consists mostly (95%) of fast food. And of that 95% I would say close to 95% is the exact same fast food.

For example, for lunch I will either have an Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger or some chicken burritos from El Pollo Loco. It’s the same exact food every day, which I used to be ravenous for by lunch time. It’s just not the case any more. When it comes to good food, my enjoyment has not been affected.

One negative development is that I seem to be low on energy. That could be from a number of other things though; including sleep deprivation, stress, and inactivity. I’m keeping a close eye on that one.

For one thing, I have to remind myself to eat, because I really am not hungry. For another… well, eating itself has become like a chore. I’m sure this is a positive thing though.

Now, as of tomorrow I am switching from two tablespoons to one - even though I am taking a multivitamin, I don’t think taking 300 calories out of just 1200 can be a good thing.

If my food cravings come back, I’ll just go back to the old two-tablespoon method.

Tomorrow I’ll do a weight check, and let you know if anything has happened as far as losing pounds is concerned.

So that’s one week down! Just three more to go…

Olive oil = 300 calories out of 1200

Yes, it’s kind of weird. Yes, downing olive oil is not ‘normal’, and I accept that a lot of people find the idea sort of gross. But you know, it doesn’t taste at all bad - it tastes like very little, and that’s the point.

Anyway, it’s been six days, and while the first few days were rocky, yesterday and today have been easier. I don’t feel as hungry. I do eat, but there’s not that obsession that comes from when you’re so hungry that your stomach hurts.

Oh, I forgot to mention this before - I am taking a multivitamin every day, just to cover all my bases. I think that’s pretty important.

Well alright then! Tomorrow makes day seven…
Olive oil = 300 calories out of 1200

I’m actually having fun with it now, and looking forward to the rest of the week… on Thursday or Friday I’ll check and see if I’ve actually lost any weight.
Olive oil = 300 calories out of 1200